A snaccident waiting to happen

What is snacking?

Is it eating small portions of healthy foods or drinks between main meals to keep your energy level up?

Or just grazing on what's handy because your stomach is rumbling?

Or pigging out at night while you are working, writing your blog post, or uploading photos to your favorite social media site?

Debate continues on the health benefits vs threats from snacking:

It could stabilize your blood sugar or curb your appetite so that you eat less during the next meal. (but apparently, this doesn't happen that often)

Or it could lead to weight gain, depending on your portion and the energy density (calories) of the foods. Research on the topics suggests:

• snacking keeps insulin levels elevated, which makes your body more readily store fat
• eating out of our normal rhythm, like late at night, may prompt weight gain
• late-night snacking also tends to be on less healthy, high-calorie foods

In the end, snacking may not be A Problem unless it contributes to an overall increase in calorie consumption - if you want that cookie, you'll need to forego the beer or wine later on.  Or put in an extra hour of workout this week. Unfortunately for all of us that (truthfully) enjoy snacking, there's no free lunch snack!

More on snacking research here!